the ‖ Ad lib. 1. Iliad learned Critic Eustatius That the Grecians burnt their Dead to shew that the Divine part of Man being born upwards by the Fire mingled with the Heavens and for this reason says he the Gymnosophists burnt themselves alive as Alexander's Calanus did * Thus also Quintilian Declam 10. speaking of the Soul cum exonerata membris levi se igne lustaverit petit sedes in astra So Porphyrius says of the Samanâ—… above-mention'd In the same way the Samanaei dispatch'd themselves In some Countries it was the Custom to †The Reason of this serviâ—…s 〈◊〉 ad lib 3. 〈◊〉 That the Soul never continuing in the Body after the the Bâ—…oo was run out it was suppos'd that it delighted in Bloody Victims after its Separation kill whatever was dear to the Person Deceased according to his Condition as Dogs Horses Slaves Relations In after times they who foresaw they should be kill'd driven by necessity and withal encourag'd by some superstitious Perswasion of being Rewarded for their Fidelity killed themselves From hence and from the Opinion of the Gymnosophists asoresaid came 〈◊〉 Custom of the Womens burning themselves with their Husbands which is very Ancient ‖ 〈◊〉 ad 5. 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 verba Famulumne parentis Item Cicero 5. Tuscul. and was undoubtedly encourag'd by the Men in those Countries where they had several Wives that they might be the more secure from the revengeful Jealousie of the Women and their implacable Rage when any one thought her self slighted and the better attended in their Sickness All their Lives depending upon their Husbands But since the Men did not so unless such as were acted by a superstitious Principle since the Women that were not Married did no such thing since no Self-murther excepting that by Fire was ever allow'd by these People none of these Instances can prove that it is Natural But to come nearer home we are told that * Donne lib. 10. among the Ceans unprofitable old Men Poison'd themselves among the Athenians Condemn'd Men were their own Executioners by Poyson and among the Romans often by Blood lettings As to this Custom of the Ceans which is related at large by †Val. Max. lib. 2. cap. 1. Val. Maximus who was an Eye Witness of it and which gives occasion to ‖ Mont. lib. 2. cap. 3. Montaign to write a Chapter upon this Subject * Strabo lib. 10. Strabo says it began upon the account of some great Famine wherein a Law was made that the Aged of both Sexes should die in that manner that their might be Provision for the Younger who were more able to defend their Country The Athenians suffered Criminals to take the Cup which the Executioner prepared and brought 'em according to the Sentence of Condemnation at a certain hour to take it I say and drink it which if they refus'd to do the Officers stood ready to force it down but did this wise People by this or any other way encourage Self-murther quite contrary there being * See Aristot. lib. 5. Ethic. a Law against it by which the Right Hand as suppos'd acting it was cut off and the Body thrown out unburied and in the same manner was it Punish'd in Thebes and other Cities of Greece and how Contemptible soever this may seem nothing was more Infamous Such as Robbed Temples and Betrayed their Country being used in the same manner nay this was the greatest Punishment according to the Superstition of those Times they being of Opinion that the Ease and Happiness of the Soul depended upon the Burial of the Body as Virgil * See Servius there lib. 3. Aen. animamque sepulcro Condimus By what has been said hitherto it may appear that although we should hearken to Examples in this matter yet those which have been alledg'd here are either such as are Fabulous or Misrepresented or such as though never so true yet being grounded upon some Religious or Superstitious Perswasion cannot be of any force to prove Self-murther to be Natural But that which is brought out with the greatest Pomp upon this Occasion is the Example of the Roman Nation No People in the World had ever so much Courage and Honour No Nation rose to such a height by Learning and by Arms None had greater Men in every thing that is admirable or more sit to be Masters of the World and yet never did so many kill themselves of any Country as of this This great and popular Prejudice may be lessened by considering these three things 1. At what time the Romans were reckon'd to be at the height of their Virtue II. When Self-Murther began to be in Request among them and the Causes of its being so III. What was the Judgment of their greatest Men and what Laws they had concerning it I. At what time the Romans were reckon'd to be at the height of their Virtue During the second Punick War Rome improv'd in its Virtue The Defeats they receiv'd from Hannibal at first increas'd the Love of their Country and awak'd that great Genius to Action which began to be enervated after the War with Pyrrhus and which had been employ'd before upon their little neighbouring States only and while Hannibal himself as well as the Savage Nations which he led suffered under the Luxury of Capua Temperance Probity Honour Discipline Courage encreased among the Romans both in the City and the Army 'till at last they conquered this formidable General and brought the Carthaginians to what Terms they pleased But immediately upon the Peace with them the War with Macedon broke out which ended not only in the Subduing of all Greece but great Part of Asia and then was it that the Roman Conquests began to prove most fatal to themselves For upon the Return of the Army from these Countries Foreign * Luxuâ—…e Peregrinae Origo ab Exercitu Asiatico Liv. lib. 39. Graecia Capta serum victorem cepit Artes Intulit agresti Latio Horace Luxury was first brought among them This quickly begat Prodigality and that made way for Bribery and for private Ambition And this was so notorious at the Siege of Numantia that Jugurtha learnt 〈◊〉 his Fiends there how to practise upon the Romans and buy their Armies and their Senate afterwards Yet â—…notwithstanding they were thus disposed still their Rival Carthage was a Check upon them and they durst not launch out and be so bad as they fain would have been for fear of this ancient Enemy This was the Reason why that Great and Upright Statesman Scipio Nasica was always against the destroying of Carthage which Cato urged so passionately as to obtain at last to the utter Ruine of the Roman Virtue as National as all the Historians afterwards lament continually †Vel. Patere lib. 2. The first Scipio opened the Way to the Roman Power the latter to their Luxury for when the Dread of Carthage was removed and their Rival in Empire
set it free in this manner That the Consequence of so doing would be Slavery and not Liberty pag. 356. ERRATA PAge 12. Line â—…lt read obtaining p. 35. for too r. to ib. after what add is more Common p. 40. l. 2 r. Author p. 44. l. 20. r. net so illâ—…itedly p. 45. l. 1. dele of ib. 23. f. us r. as p. 49. marg r. dure p. 57. marg del in bis p. 64. l. 3. f. becomes r. comes p. 68. l. 11. r. if not to be p. 73. l. 21. del is p. 78. l. 1. r. what p. 80. l. 10 del Manliness and the â—…ks foll p. 107. l. 22. r. loss of p. 110. marg r. Agostini p. 119. f. NON COMPOS r. FELO DE SE. p. 136. l. 1. f. must r. may p. 139. l. 8. â—…r supposing p. 146. l. 9. r. Friends p. â—…47 l. 25. r. Bacchanalia p. 151. marg r. projecere p. 160. l. 7. r. Anaxagoras p. 169. l. 11. r. Numantia p. 173. l. 7. f. is r. his p. 175. l. 10. f. till r. ' t is p. 176. l. 12. r. mdanâ—…lic p. 177. l. 20. r. but how p. 178. l. 17. r. that though he p. 191. l. 21. del p. 227. l. 24. r. suthâ—… one p. 233. l. 26. del 〈◊〉 it p. 242. marg f. lib. 4. r. lib. 43. p. 271. l. 10 del of p. 291. l. 8. del any ADDENDA Page 20. Line 13. after has any right to Punish him add that is as to those Faults which he câ—…its against himself as Intemperance c. ib. l. 22 after Destruction of it add If it be â—…s Crime as shall be prov'd There are some litteral Mistakes as also in the Pointing occasion'd by the Transcribing which the Reader is desir'd to Correct or Excuse Lately Printed THE Certainty of the Christian Revelation and the Necessity of Beleiving it Established In Opposition to all the Cavils and Insinuations of such as pretend to allow Natural Religion and reject the Gospel By Francis Gastrell B. D. and Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincoln's-Inn A Conference with a Theist in 4. Parts By W Nicholls D. D. Printed for Tho. Bennet AN ESSAY Concerning SELF-MURTHER c. Introduction TO treat of this Subject by such Arguments only as may be drawn from Reveal'd Religion or to mix these and such as may be brought from Natural Reason together wou'd be to raise the greatest Prejudices in those Persons who are most concern'd For they who undertake to defend the Lawfulness of Self-Murther of which there are many in this Age proceed chiefly upon Natural Principles and will not hearken to any Thing from Revelation till these are answered Wherefore my Design at present is to consider this Action according to the Principles of Natural Reason only To this purpose it might perhaps be thought necessary by some People to prove in the first Place the Being of a God But since this has been both readily allow'd and studiously maintain'd by the most considerable Advocates of Self-Murther I shall take it to be granted and upon this Supposition endeavour to prove that Self-Murther is naturally unlawful CHAP. 1. Man considered in the Individual The State of Nature Of Humane Life What and from whence it is Where the absolute Propriety of it is to be plac'd BY Self-Murther I mean a Man's depriving himself of Life wilfully and advisedly For the proving this Act to be unlawful we are to consider what Humane Life is From whence Man receives it Where the absolute Propriety or Dominion of it is to be plac'd And to what End it was bestow'd Man consists of a Rational Soul and Body united together naturally Humane Life is the Result of this Vnion There was a Time when neither Soul nor Body had any Being therefore the Soul cou'd not be the Cause of it self much less cou'd the Body be so But the Being of each and the Union of both and the Continuation of the same Union must be owing to that All-wise All-mighty Vniversal Cause which is called God This I suppose will easily be granted and if so it will lead us to the fixing the true Propriety or Dominion over Humane Life the absolute and lawful Power to dispose of it All absolute Propriety is either Original or Derivative each of which is twofold of Men or of Things In the present Argument the Life of a Man is the Man and not a Thing he that destroys the Life of a Man destroys a Man and he that destroys a Man destroys the Life of a Man However one of these may be of use to illustrate the other and if we know by what means Original Propriety of Things is acquired we may the more easily discover whether Man has any Original Propriety of his Life or no. Original Propriety of Things comes by taking possession of that which belongs to no body or which has been forsaken by those to whom it did belong or else by making or producing something out of that which is no Bodies which last seems to give the best Title of Propriety as being not only the possessing but the giving a kind of new Being to the Thing Now I. Man cannot have the Original Propriety of himself by any of these ways because he could not make himself nor can he be ever so derelinquished or forsaken by the great Cause of his Being as to remain independent and absolute but while he is he must belong to the same Cause thro' which he at first was besides he cou'd not take possession of himself before he was nor cou'd he be at the same time both the Person taking possession and the Person possessed If Man then has not the Original Propriety of himself no other Creature can pretend to it and therefore it remains only that it should be in God And in Him indeed it is in the strictest manner not by producing him out of that which was no Bodies but by making him out of that which he created out of nothing and by being independent Himself and not only causing but sustaining and comprehending all Things II. As to any derivative Propriety or Dominion which Man may be suppos'd to have of his Life if we consider such Propriety as absolute and independent which it must be if it gives him a Right to dispose of his Life as he pleases he can have no such Propriety neither because this is contradictory both to the Nature of God and Man 1. This cannot be derived from any but God but God cannot divest himself of such absolute Dominion or Propriety because this wou'd make Man from the time in which God shou'd do this so independent that God would have no further Right over his Life and therefore cou'd not in any Case threaten him with Death nor command him any Duty under the Penaity of any Punishment In a word this wou'd hinder God from being Omniporent for he cannot be so who has not a Power over all whether Persons or Things 2. Altho' we shou'd suppose
can be no harm for they cannot intend their Creatures any Mischief If there be not Gods or if they take no care of humane Affairs To what purpose is it to live in such a World as is without Gods or without Providence but there are Gods and they do take care of Mankind and have put it into their Power not to fall into any of those things which are really Evil c. * Lib. 4. Sect. 31. Be thou my Soul like unto some Promontory upon which the Billows beat continually but that remains unmov'd and forces 'em to fall off on either side and slide gently into a Calm Shall I cry out poorly Unhappy me whom this or that befals and not rather say Happy me who am able to bear it who am neither shockt with what I feel now nor frighten'd with what may come hereafter such an Accident might have happen'd to any one as well as me but no body cou'd have born it so well as I. Why shou'd I call any thing Unhappiness which cannot reach or injure Humane Nature Search into thy self impartially Can that which has hefalln thee make thee less Temperate less Modest less Knowing or less Prudent Can it hinder thee from being Just or Generous If not remember when any Accident inclines thee to be discontented Remember I say that the thing which befalls you is really no Vnhappiness in its own Nature but that you are able to support it undauntedly is a real and great Happiness * Lib. 10. Sect. 23. He that runs away from his Master is a Fugitive The Law is our Common Master he that declines obeying that runs away from it and thus does that Man who Murmures Rages or Trembles at what has been is or shall be done by him who Governs all things who is that Law which distributes to every one of us the several parts of our Obedience I cou'd easily produce more Instances for they are to be met withal in almost every Page of his Book if I did not think these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how Inconsistent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other things which he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observable that this great Man seems to be sensible of this himself He never inculcates this Principle with that 〈◊〉 and Violence which the others do He cou'd not quit it wholly as he was a Stoic it being the Characteristic of that Sect yet he mentions it but twice or thrice I think in all his Book and that too in so short and slight a manner that he seems to be asham'd of it and to be Conscious how Contradictory this was to that Submission to Providence that Magnanimity and Constancy in all Events which he recommends continually and indeed it was impossible that it should take any root in so excellent a Temper His great Regard to the Gods his Natural Goodness and Moderation made his Mind yield readily to all the Dispensations of Providence Whereas the Vain the Stubborn and Obstinate Mind as it is quickly incens'd so it snaps short immediately and breaks rather than yields even to God himself Thus I have given an Account of the first Rise of the Stoic Philosophy shew'd the Time when it began to appear among the Romans the Causes of its Progress how the Principle of Self-murther in particular come to be in Request and to be put in Execution how Inconsistent this is with the other Principles of that Sect and particularly with what is taught by those Three Authors whose Authority has Recommended it so much to the World and if what has been said is true as any one that Questions it may easily find if they will Examine the Authors which I have referr'd to which I intreat them to do then this great Prejudice grounded upon the Doctrine and Example of this Wise and Virtuous Sect ought not to sway any longer with them CHAP. XI Cato's Case considered in Particular His Character His Enmity against Caesar. The several Circumstances of his Death What may most Probably have been the true Cause of it And of the great Encomiums which were given him afterwards HAving thus given some Account of the Roman Nation and of the Philosophy of the Stoics the way lies the more open to consider the Case of Cato's Death who was so great an Ornament to both and whose Example is so much pleaded in the behalf of Self-murther Nothing is more reasonable than that one or more ill Actions shou'd escape the Censure of Posterity under the Splendour of a great many good ones but the Perverseness of some People will not allow of this who being given to think out of the way and maintain dangerous Paradoxes are always searching into the Lives of great Men to pick out something to justifie their Pretences Wherefore though it be a very ill office to disturb the Ashes of the Dead and to call in Question those Encomiums which have long since ripen'd into Glory yet when such Authorities shall be thus dangerously abus'd and great Names brought in instead of sound Arguments it is absolutely necessary to enquire into the Matter of Fact as well for the Vindication of the Dead as the Information of the Living Of all the Examples that are brought for Self-murther Cato is the most Considerable wherefore in order to the making a right Judgment of this Matter it will be necessary to do these things 1. To form a just and true Idea of him by considering his particular Temper and what it was that distinguish'd him from other Men. 2. To consider him as he stood in Relation to Caesar. 3. To Examine exactly the several Circumstances of his Death and from these shew the true Causes of it And when this is done 4. To inquire into the Reasons usually given for its being so much applauded and assign the true ones I. We are to form a just Idea of him c. To this End we are to consider in the first Place That he liv'd in such an Age wherein the Common-wealth was at the very worst the lower sort as well as the higher were 〈◊〉 in Luxury and by their Expeâ—…sive Vices 〈◊〉 open to the Brihery and Corruption of the Ambitious The Laws and Liberties of Rome the Publick Good which their Ancestors had Studied and Improv'd with so much Glory were quite forgotten and several Parties form'd to usurp not defend the Government Places of greatest Trust and Authority were sold Publickly and they who bought 〈◊〉 made haste to be whole again by selling Truth and Justice Among these Corrâ—…ptions Cato grew up untainted in his Integrity not to be work'd upon by the Impunity or rather the Reputation of these Crimes nor to be frighted by being left single and alone but bravely opposing himself against the Enemies of his Country notwithstanding the Pride and 〈◊〉 of their Wealth or Power Indeed never was there a more sincere Lover of the Publick Good never did any Man incur so many Dangers to hinder the passing of Factious and Destructive Laws No body